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Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent, who will perform May 20 at the Georgia Mountains Center, each had deep roots in bluegrass music before their first duo album hit shelves in 2008.

Dailey played bass and sang lead, baritone and tenor for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, helping the group win 13 International Bluegrass Music Association awards in the span of seven years.

During Vincent's 10-year stint with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, the group won five Grammy awards and eight IBMA awards. He also backed up Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill, and shared the spotlight with his sister Rhonda Vincent, who has her own successful solo career.

But when the two teamed up, they struck bluegrass gold, piling up more than 30 awards in a three-year span.

We spoke with them about their lives growing up, music and family.

Question: Did you grow up with bluegrass music?

Answer: Dailey: Yes, I did. My dad played in a bluegrass gospel group, and I grew up around it, singing and playing since I was three.

Darrin came out singing as soon as he was born, just singing "Elvira" and "Rocky Top." At 3 years old, I entered a singing contest, singing "Elvira," and I won third place. I've just been singing and playing in local groups ever since, until Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver hired me in '99.

Then we started Dailey & Vincent in 2007, and it's been a great ride ever since. Darrin and I met at IBMA, that's where we got to know each other. We started having lunches and dinners and talking about music, and decided we wanted to eventually have our own group.

Q: With you and your sister (Rhonda Vincent) in the family, tell me about what it was like growing up around music.

A: Vincent: It was like a circus, really. You didn't have any choice. When you grew up, you just played. It was part of your life. You'd play every weekend somewhere, whether it would be a bluegrass festival or a church or a nursing home. We played all the time.

It's a way of life that I didn't know any difference, growing up, you know.

It was good, and then there's some childhood things ... now that I'm older and I've got three children of my own, there's some things as a child I missed out on.

Q: Have your families become close since your partnership?

A: Vincent: I believe that's about right. We look at this business as a marriage. We have the same values, we have the same goals. His family, they support both of us equally, and I believe that ... I have a whole new family in his family, and I believe he has in my family.

My kids call him Uncle Jamie now, whether he likes it or not. When they're selling stuff at school, they always come home and say, ‘Well, let's see if Uncle Jamie will buy something from us.'

Q: Tell me about "Dailey and Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers." How did that project come about?

A: Dailey: We sang for the Statler Brothers' induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame back in 2008, June, and we sang the song, "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine?" But prior to that, we were singing "Elizabeth" on stage. Fans kept coming up and saying, "Well you need to do this Statler song, and this Statler song, and this Statler song ..."

We were getting some standing ovations with a lot of Statler songs, and I told Darrin that I would love to do a tribute record for the Statler Brothers, and he was all about it. Cracker Barrel (executives) happened to attend our annual show (one) summer at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. They came backstage and said, "We want to do a record on you guys, and you can do anything you want to do," and I said, this might be a good time for our tribute record.

We released it and it was No. 1 on Bluegrass Billboard. It started out at No. 19 on Country Music Billboard, and it went No. 1 on Pop Seekers, which is all genres.

So, it was a great record. A lot of fun.

Q: What's next for y'all?

A: Dailey: We can't quite talk that much about it much right now, but we are getting ready to start another record, and it should be out January, February ... first quarter of 2012.